Santa kicks off Christmas
The big fella has still got some pulling power.
Thousands lined Invercargill’s central city streets on Saturday for the Southland Santa Parade with the special guest being Santa himself. The annual Santa Parade kick-started Christmas events in the city.
This year’s parade returned to some normality with Covid-19 providing challenges in recent years.
Last year organisers ditched the usual inner-city route and took the floats to suburban streets from Waikiwi to south Invercargill to avoid mass gatherings while in Covid-19 restrictions.
Organiser Alice Pottinger said it was nice to have the community back together.
While it is hard to put an exact figure on how many people turned out, Pottinger said all indications were that it was a success.
‘‘Our drivers that have been doing it for a number of years think that it was a bigger crowd this year than any other that they’ve seen,’’ Pottinger said.
This year’s parade featured
about 60 floats with a variety of themes, with hundreds of volunteers pitching in to make the day a success.
This year a gala afternoon was held after the parade at the Gala St Reserve where all the floats were on display alongside food vendors.
Another star in this year’s Southland Santa Parade was Black Fern Amy du Plessis, fresh from winning the Rugby World Cup. The former Southland Girls’ High School student was joined on a rugby float by children and
had her Rugby World Cup medal on hand.
The Black Ferns midfielder was thrilled to take part in the parade.
‘‘When I got the message I was obviously really keen to come down and be here to support the Christmas parade and just wanted to give back to the community. I’m really grateful to be here.
‘‘Credit to Southland Girls’ High where my rugby started and Southland Rugby as well.’’ Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark presented du Plessis with flowers and congratulated her on behalf of the region. Fellow Southland Black Fern Amy Rule is likely to make an appearance in the Christmas Parade in Riverton on Christmas Eve.